Tue, Oct 21, 2003
You Could, If You're the Right Kind of Person
One of the questions prospective
airport screeners are asked has to do with why it is important to
screen bags for "improvised explosive devices," commonly referred
to by security people as "I.E.D.s."
Choose one:
- The I.E.D. batteries could leak and damage other passenger
bags.
- The wires in the I.E.D. could cause a short to the aircraft
wires.
- I.E.D.s can cause loss of lives, property and aircraft.
- The ticking timer could worry other passengers.
Don't worry, though: the answers to most of the questions were
thoroughly discussed just prior to the screeners' taking the
test.
Remember: the screener pool was
carefully selected to meet all kinds of hiring quotas; the initial
test results were never shown to the applicants; the scores were
never allowed to be made public. Then, once an 'anointed' applicant
was 'approved,' that candidate was given access to many of the
questions and answers on the so-called test.
Since the scores weren't reported, it was impossible to
ascertain whether the most-qualified candidates were ever picked...
but the screeners we have now (aside from being a lot of the
pre-9-11 group, now wearing federal uniforms) certainly represent
the best of the best -- that's why they could answer tough
questions like the one above.
Now that a college student has shown how embarrassingly simple it is to slip
contraband aboard airliners, the FBI, TSA, and the rest of the
government 'security' cabal are doing what that group would be
expected to do: shooting the messenger. There are no reports that
anyone in the TSA is being disciplined for letting these items get
aboard; the FBI says it knew about it all along; and the messenger
who obviously posed no threat -- he's getting hit with multiple
felony counts.
Maybe, "embarrassing the government" will be added to his list
of felonies. It's possibly the most serious crime of all.
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